


Squatchin' In The Backyard

by WordsSpillFromMyOpenVeins_89



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Adventure, Bonding, Family, Fluff, Gen, Halloween, Kid Fic, Post-Episode: s11e10 My Struggle IV, Sasquatch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 08:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16472123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordsSpillFromMyOpenVeins_89/pseuds/WordsSpillFromMyOpenVeins_89
Summary: It's Halloween. And BIG plans are afoot at the Ordinary House.Happy Halloween 2018!





	Squatchin' In The Backyard

Ordinary House  
Alexandria, VA.

Halloween is a BIG day in the Mulder household.

Mulder would start setting up the elaborate celebrations just before his birthday, which meant a few weeks of planning always went into it. This year, it was going to be more than just Ghouls, Ghosts and Goblins (and the ubiquitous Horror movie characters). They had carved pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns, as family, over the previous weekend and put them out on the front porch, adding them to the fake spiders in cobwebs and cardboard Witch decorations.

The last special touches of this years spook-tacular holiday were set up by Mulder so it could remain a secret from his two favorite ladies.

Mulder had decided after last years semi low-key celebrations, that he would create a fun Squatch Hunt event in the backyard for Hope.

And if he was being completely honest, it seemed much safer than some of the other events going on around town today and he didn't want her to accidently get hurt by older children (he knew that she could more than handle herself but was incredibly protective of her - life had become so much more since Hope was born, for both Scully and Mulder. It had changed everything and watching their daughter grow up, learn new things and become her own person was an absolute joy).

October 30th  
9:47pm

Scully had tucked Hope into bed and came downstairs to find Mulder yanking their camping tent out of the storage closet in the den and dumping it by the backdoor before continuing on to the kitchen and rummaging through the cupboards for supplies.

"What the fuck are you doing, Mulder?" Scully asked, rolling her eyes (expertly) and trying to stifle a small chuckle that was bubbling up inside.

"It's Halloween tomorrow!" Mulder replied, confused and distracted while scooping snacks into a bright orange backpack.

"I know. It's also really late and I would like to get a solid nights sleep before I inevitably have to save your arse"

"I only got trapped in those fake spider webs once, thank you very much..." Mulder mock grumbled, taking a step closer to Scully and pulling her into his arms "But I'm glad you came to my rescue, because it got really fucking scary for a minute there" he finished, kissing the top of her head.

"Shut up!" Scully laughed into the crook of his neck and shoulder, breathing in his unmistakable scent.

"Don't be out there for too long, OK?"

"I can't promise that I won't be. I've got a lot to do, Scully. It has to be prefect, for Hope. Maybe an hour... hour and a half. Tops!"

Scully leaned back in Mulder arms, tilting her chin up to look at his face. He was so excited and it melted her heart. She smiled, and wrapped her tiny arms around his chest, squeezing lightly before standing on her tip toes and kissing him softly on the lips.

"Hmm. Please just try to be as quite as you can, when you do come back up to bed"

"Of course. Now go get some sleep, gorgeous"

Mulder unclasped his hands from their place on the small of Scully's back, resting them briefly on her hips and then let her go, watching for a minute as she walked back upstairs to relax. And then proceeded to set up the best Halloween Extravaganza... EVER!

Mulder had spent the next hour and a half packing their tent full with all of the essentials; their matching ghillie suits, binoculars, old newspaper clippings of Sasquatch sightings and snacks (ones that obviously wouldn't spoil in the cool air overnight; so it was mostly multi-packs of candy, a bag of sunflower seeds, marshmallows and a variety of juice boxes - Grape was Hope's favourite, so he made sure to grab a couple) and then zipped it up tight.

It had rained quite a bit... earlier that afternoon, so it wasn't too difficult for him to make convincing Bigfoot tracks on the ground. Instead of turning the back door light on (so he didn't wake up Scully and Hope), he used a flashlight to see what he was doing and make sure that everything looked.. just right, for tomorrows special event.

And then quietly went back upstairs and crawled into bed with Scully, content and excited for the day ahead.

October 31st  
10:13am

Mulder unzipped and held open the material door of the tent so their almost five year old daughter, Hope, could enter and change into her kid sized Ghillie suit that matched his adult sized one (though Scully would still call him an overgrown child for wearing it and believing in such things, considering all of the times she knows he went looking for one and coming back empty handed).

"Are you excited?" Mulder asked as he followed in behind her, crouching down because of his height.

"Yeah...

Hope sat down on an old Native American blanket, that was covering the rough floor of the tent and kicked off a pair of TARDIS blue Converse sneakers, grabbed her suit and a king size packet of Twizzlers.

I cannot wait to meet a bigfoot, daddy"

She was wearing black leggings with silver stars on them and a dark purple sweater, which she removed and threw into the corner of the tent, revealing a lilac colored tank top underneath. Scully had helped Hope pick out the outfit after she braided her long strawberry blond hair this morning.

"You won't be disappointed if we don't see a bigfoot, will you?"

"Nuh uh" Hope mumbled, shaking her head and handing the packet of Twizzlers to her dad.

Mulder opened the bag, and handed her a of raspberry flavored Twizzler watching as she shoved into her mouth and sucked on it.

"Good. Because they're not always easy to find, but I found a foot print a long time ago..."

"Hmph" Hope huffed, still chewing on the Twizzler in her mouth.

She was struggling to get her feet through the leg holes of her ghillie suit. Mulder had learned pretty early on that he was gifted another Scully and with his experience knew never to try and do something unless he was expressly asked.

"Do you need help with your suit?" Mulder asked gently, sitting down on the floor in front of her.

"Nope!" Hope pouted (adorably, Mulder thought), frustrated in the way children get when things don't happen immediately.

"Hope?"

Hope was stubborn, wilful and independent just like her mother but she was also interested in bigfoots, aliens and other spooky things, just like her father. She was also brave, fearless, clever as can be and so unbelievably compassionate. She said her first word at nine months old, the word of course was - spooky! She started walking a few weeks later, on Mulder's 58th birthday and he had teared up and told Scully that it was the best birthday present he had ever gotten in his entire life. It was three years later, and he had received many more precious gifts from his daughter, by way of Scully (and his own bank account) but it would always be the thought that counted and his daughter was incredibly thoughtful (something he was sure she had gotten from Scully).

"I'm a big girl... I'm nearly five, that's big. Mommy says so!"

"Of course you are, sweetie..." Mulder said, trying not to smile and continued on trying to convince her, even if that particular task seemed impossible right now "and mommy's right but sometimes even big girls, which you definitely are... need help from their Daddies too"

"They just won't go on, Daddy!" Hope complained, her nose scrunched up in annoyance at the situation.

She looked at him with those big, soulful hazel eyes of hers and huffed again, melting his heart in the process and stopped struggling, grabbing another raspberry Twizzler from the packet on the blanket on the tent floor and put it into her mouth waiting for Mulder to fix the problem.

"Here...

Mulder tapped and lightly tickled the bottom of Hope's small socked feet. She kicked them out of his grasp and placed them onto his lap, leaning her head against a large soft pillow that was also inside the tent to relax on.

I'll help you with those and then we can catch ourselves a pet bigfoot, huh?" Mulder grinned mischievously, wriggling them out the ends of the ghillie suit for her and put her sneakers back on making sure to let her tie the laces, unless she asked for help with those too.

"They like to be free, that's what the story you read to me said - Daddy, I don't think we should capture her..." Hope shook her head adamantly, concern etched on her pale freckle dotted face "what if she has a baby?"

"That's a good point, sweetie. And I know that if someone took me away from you, I'd be very upset" Mulder answered, marvelling at the kindness of his daughter for a (potentially)mythical overly hirsute human/animal hybrid. No mangy Sasquatch around here, at least that's what the sign on Mulder's home office door said. Thanks to Hope, who had made it for him during an art class in kindergarten a few weeks ago, and he loved it.

"'Cause you love me... would miss me, and I'm the best?" Hope questioned her father, cheekily.

"Of course, I love you and would miss you... and you're the VERY best. I feel the same about Mommy and your big brother, Will, too. And I would be upset if I was taken away from all of you" Mulder pulled her up the hands, and she immediately fell into his lap giggling at the seriousness of his response.

"I miss Will. Is he coming home soon? I wanna show him my room!"

"Hmm. Maybe we should call later him and ask him to come home for a visit?"

"YEAH! I love you..." Hope said, cuddling into his shoulder and then stood up, abruptly "you have to get ready now, Daddy" she finished, looking down at him with a massive grin on her face.

"Yes, I do, thanks for reminding me"

Hope turned around, found her mini-binoculars near the rest of their Sasquatch hunting gear and slipped them carefully around her neck, ready to hunt Sasqutches with her father.

October 31st  
11:00am

The sky was a lovely shade of light blue with big white fluffy clouds floating by, the storm of the previous afternoon all but forgotten. The grass was still a little bit dewy, but the soil was drier now and covered with gorgeous multi-coloured fall leaves and perfect - albeit fake - bigfoot impressions for their father/daughter Halloween Squatchfest Hunt.

The coppery tinges in her long strawberry blond hair caught the light of the bright sun just right, and made it shine like Christmas tinsel was hidden in her braids. Mulder was standing behind her with his hands resting on her shoulders, she looked up at him over her shoulder expectantly and he could see the pure joy, wonder and curiosity in her beautiful, hazel eyes.

"Is there really a bigfoot out there?" Hope questioned him quietly, so not to frighten any Sasquatches away, much the same way Scully used to do.

"Maybe..." Mulder laughed "Are you ready to find out?" he continued, delicately smoothing back the curly bangs from off of Hope's forehead and smiling down at her, lovingly.

"Yupp!"

Hope used her binoculars to look around their backyard, quickly finding the start of the trail Mulder had made using his old Sasquatch footprint mould (essentially reverse engineering the mould to make impressions on the wet soil the night before).

"Can you see anything?" Mulder wondered out loud, trying to sound like he didn't know exactly what she was going to find.

"Over there..." Hope pointed to a patch of ground a couple of meters away "I can see something, footprints... I think"

"Really? That was fast... are we safe? Do you see a bigfoot out there preparing to eat us for lunch?"

"Nope, I think... we're safe!" Hope replied, happily.

She slowly began to follow Mulder's meticulously laid out bigfoot prints that went to the very edge of the yard, almost to the clearing near the beginning of the forest while he was hiding behind an massive old oak tree in the backyard, keeping watch for any signs of incoming and grumpy Sasquatches. He was the lookout, she was the adventurer. But he was always the architect of these adventures. He watched as she knelt down and looked at the footprint intently and with a logical, scientific eye (that she also inherited from her gorgeous mother).

"What have you found?" Mulder asked, curious about the serious look on Hope's sweet little face.

"Don't know...

Hope was suddenly down on her belly, carefully crawling inch by inch along the ground searching for more.

but it's definitely a fresh print... and there's another one, Daddy. It's SO big!"

"Be careful, sweetie" Mulder said, amused and thrilled that she was enjoying herself.

She was making her way closer to the edge of the forest that bordered part of their large backyard and it started to make Mulder extremely nervous, so he left his hiding spot by the tree and followed after her to make sure she didn't go too far, like he promised he would to Scully during breakfast.

"Come on! Follow me..." Hope yelled, taking off towards the deep, dark forest.

"Hope, slow down..." Mulder demanded, and followed after his wayward adventurous daughter "Stop, don't go past the fence! Mommy will be mad at both of us" he finished, worried.

"I wasn't going to go past the fence. I'm just following the evidence like you told me!"

"Come have look what I found... I think you'll be very intrigued" Mulder said, trying to lure her back to a safer spot in the yard.

"What? What is it? What did you find?" Hope sulked (but still a little bit curious) sounding exactly like her mother, as she jogged back over to Mulder.

"If you just come back over here, I'll show you"

He turned his back on her, so she couldn't see him chuckling and walked back to the massive old oak tree that he was standing near before and pointed at something stuck to the bark. There was fur pressed into it... well, faux fur from one of his mother's ridiculous coats that was gifted to him in her will but it was convincing enough for this charade.

"Is that...?"

"I think it might be. Should we take a closer look at it?" Mulder smiled.

"YES!"

He pulled the (faux) fur from the tree, and handed it to Hope. She stared at it in awe, and he almost burst with pride. Mulder had always reasoned that he wasn't lying to their daughter but enriching her childhood, giving her the happy childhood that was taken from him, letting her believe... because as far as he was concerned; belief in the unbelievable, belief in the magical never hurt anyone. Making the impossible, possible for her (and, if he were being honest - his) enjoyment was what made him happy now.

"So... is it? I mean, it couldn't possibly be... could it?" Mulder asked, playing it up for the cheap seats.

"I can check with my microscope. It can tell us! I left it in the tent... can we go back?" Hope said, bouncing up and down, beyond excited by the find they had made.

"Of course. Let's go check if it's real bigfoot fur and then maybe we can have lunch?"

Hope plopped down on the large pillow, yanked her microscope out of her purple Dora The Explorer backpack and placed the fur on the slide. Mulder unzipped his Ghillie suit, removed the dark olive coloured sweater he was wearing, revealing a plain grey tee and sat cross legged on the blanket next to her, watching her features change as she did or didn't find what she wanted and needed for it to be genuine Sasquatch fur.

"Hmm" Hope sighed, still looking at the mysterious fur through the microscope.

"That doesn't sound good. What's wrong, sweetie?" Mulder inquired.

"It might not be real... who would put fur on the tree, to trick us?"

"I don't know and that would be strange. So, maybe we should ask Mommy if it's real or not?

"OK! I'm SO hungry!"

October 31st  
12:21pm

Mulder had built a bonfire in the middle of the backyard with large protective rocks surrounding it, the winter after Hope was born and they had since used it for BBQs during the Summer, a makeshift table for dinners outside in the Springtime and they often drank hot chocolate and ate s'mores around it in the Fall and Winter. It had gotten a lot of use, even if Scully wasn't entirely convinced with his ability to build it when he came up with the idea.

The backdoor to the Ordinary house creaked open, putting what was happening in the tent on hold and causing Mulder and Hope to poke their heads through the material door of the tent and look at where the unexpected noise was coming from and then ducked back inside to get out of their matching Ghillie suits. The sky was now a dark blue-ish and grey colour, signs that the storm from yesterday might return and there was a chill in the air.

"Maybe, Mommy is the bigfoot?" Mulder whispered.

"MOMMY!"

"Hey, gorgeous!"

"Lunch?" Scully called out, from the small patch of concrete just off of the backdoor. She was carrying a decorative wooden tray in her hands, and it was piled high with food to be cooked and eaten.

Mulder climbed out of the tent and strolled over to Scully, meeting her at the bonfire. He took the tray from her hands and placed a soft, loving kiss on her shiny red lips before carefully putting the food down on a bench.

"Thank you" Scully smiled, and took a seat on one of the three wooden benches around the unlit fire pit that Mulder had built himself over a decade ago (they used to reside on the porch but they bought more comfortable chairs for the porch a couple of years back, so the benches were moved to the backyard)

"You're welcome! Hope should be out in a minute, and we're going to call William later if you want to join us. She really misses him, Scully. Who would've thought that was possible when they were having all of those fights over his bedroom?" Mulder said, wincing at the memories. Hope had gotten her way in the end, and moved into William's old room when he went off to college (he had worked really hard, and was lucky enough to get late admittance into RISD - the best Art School on the East Coast).

"Yeah, that would be really nice. And I'd like to know if he's coming back for Thanksgiving, or if we'll have to wait to see him again until Christmas" Scully said wistfully, looking over at the tent and wrapped her oversized sweater clad arms tightly around her mid-section.

"I think, if we ask really nicely and tell him that we all REALLY miss him that he'll have no choice but to come back and spend time with us... that's assuming he doesn't have a girlfriend that he would rather be spending time with"

Mulder offered, noticing the sad look on Scully's face and parked his behind next to her on the bench, pulling her into his warm, protective arms and kissed her temple. She couldn't help but laugh against neck, at the comment. William did have a way with the ladies, something that Mulder always had trouble with... until he met Scully, of course.

"I really hope so. How was the hunt? Did you find anything?"

"So do I. Umm, about that.. so I need to warn you- I may have gone overboard with the whole Squatch Hunt thing, and Hope is going to come out of the tent any minute now and ask you to double check something for us..." Mulder explained, hoping that she wouldn't hit him or call him crazy... again.

"What did you drag MY daughter into now?"

"Nothing, I swear. And she had a blast, Scully. She really did... you should've seen her, it reminded me of you back in the day when we were traipsing all over this fair country of ours. It was adorbz!"

"But this is when I swoop in and rescue you?" Scully said, (happily) resigned to her place as his savoir, in every sense of the word.

"Yeah, this is definitely that moment. Are you prepared to lie to OUR daughter for me?"

"We'll see!"

Hope appeared beside them, holding a the fur and her microscope in her tiny hands. Scully shot daggers at Mulder quickly, and then turned back to her daughter.

"Can you check this for me and Daddy? We found it on that tree over there"

"Wow! And what is it exactly?" Scully said, staring in confusion and disbelief at the (faux) fur in Hope's grasp.

"Bigfoot fur?" Hope countered tugging on the sleeves of her sweater and wavering slightly in her belief of the unbelievable.

"You really don't recognize what it could be, Scully?"

Scully narrowed her icy blue eyes at him, and took the mass of fur from her daughter. Hope put the microscope on the bench, and waited patiently for her mother to confirm whether or not a Sasquatch had really been in their backyard in the last 24 to 48 hours.

"Well, it looks like animal fur... but I don't know from which animal. It could be a few different ones..." Scully was dragging out the suspense, like Mulder usually would but noticed Hope's bottom lip jut out in a thoughtful pout "from your Dad's research, it certainly looks like it could be... from a... Sasquatch" she choked out, after a second of deliberation.

She just wasn't sure it was wise to lie to their daughter, who was incredibly smart and would probably be upset to learn it was all BS fed to her by her parents.

"Really? And there were lots of footprints on the ground... everywhere!" Hope grinned, her faith in the impossible mythical beasts restored.

"I think so, baby" Scully smiled, giving the fur back and running a hand down one her braids.

"I told you Mommy could verify whether it was real. I think maybe the Bigfoot just collected some food for her babies, like you said. So we're safe, and the bigfoot family will eat good tonight, right?" Mulder said, as he got up and started to light the bonfire pit so they could get lunch on the go.

"Yeah, and maybe they'll come back one day?" Hope asked, hopeful of a return visit in the near future.

"I'm not sure about that, baby. I don't know if I want them to come for another visit. We we're really lucky this time"

"It sounds like Mommy is scared of our friendly neighborhood Sasquatches. Are you scared of them, Hope?" Mulder mocked, throwing a sly grin over his shoulder at Scully while piling chunks of wood into the pit.

"Noo, I'm not afraid of them... I want to see them next time!" Hope giggled "Don't be scared of them, Mommy. They're nice, I promise!" and then hugged her mother.

"Thank you. I'll try not to be scared of them being near the house in the future" Scully forced a smile in Mulder's direction, and melted into the sweet hug from her daughter.

Mulder pushed the metal grate onto the growing fire, and picked up the tray stacked full of mini-franks, buns, ketchup and mustard. Scully had decided to throw her health food kick to the wind and that they would have hotdogs for lunch today instead. Mulder wasn't going to complain... it was a welcome change from the boring salads or plain-ish turkey sandwiches she usually made.

"Don't worry, Scully. I'll always protect you! So, how many hotdogs do you want?"

"TWO!" Hope shouted. She was a chip of the old block, and had all of the terrible eating habits that Scully tried to beat out of Mulder over their years together not that it ever worked. She would usually catch him scarfing a packet of potato chips or some other horrible processed foodstuff much to her disdain and he would receive a lecture that he promptly ignored.

"Two? Can you really eat that many, baby?" Scully asked, desperately trying to mask the horrified look on her face.

"Yeah... maybe even three!"

Mulder laughed, tossed roughly six franks on the grate and sat back next to Scully on the bench. Her beautiful, blue eyes were shimmering silver in the lowlight of the sun disappearing behind the clouds and flames from the fire, and he leaned in... kissing her, passionately and ran his thumb across her high cheekbone. Scully sighed, contently and then caught what Hope was doing out oft he corner of her eye.

"Don't get too close to the fire, baby!"

"I know, Mommy" Hope said, stepping back from the rising flames and sitting down next to both of her parents.

"Good girl. Fire bad, tree pretty... remember?" Scully smiled. They had watched a bunch of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' reruns together, while William was home for a few weeks from college, over the Summer.

"I think the mama bigfoot likes pretty trees!"

"I bet she probably does, too. Hope, do you wanna go get that big bag of marshmallows from inside the tent, so we can have s'mores after our hotdogs?" Mulder suggested. Hope agreed immediately, getting up and running over to the tent to grab the different bags of candy and a grape juice box because she was very thirsty.

"It feels like the older she gets... the more she reminds me of you when we first met, Mulder" Scully mused, gently touching the gold cross hanging around her neck and tucked an annoying strand of hair behind her ear.

"Really? Based on the memories from my childhood - the good ones, of course - she's just like Samantha was at that age... actually maybe you've got a point there, gorgeous" Mulder joked, and quickly corrected himself as the realization dawned on him.

"You know that I love you, right?" Scully asked (unsure if she told him that enough), bringing his warm right hand up to her face and pressing her lips to his wrist lightly. She had always had difficulty saying those words to people she truly cared for and loved but she needed Mulder to know that even though she doesn't always say it... she does always feel it. Always!

"I know. I love you too, Scully... and our little family!"

Hope finally returned, dragging her backpack full of snacks along behind her, sucking on the straw in her grape juice box. Mulder and Scully looked over at her and they both, inadvertently smiled at the image before them; her sneakers were muddy, her braids were a mess and she looked tired. Kinda looked like maybe she had taken a nap while she was in the tent. Mulder reached for the backpack and she dropped into his hand without warning, he quickly adverted disaster by swinging it up into his lap.

"Can we eat the hotdogs now?"

"Hope, manners!" Scully admonished.

They both knew that when Hope was tired, she would become increasingly impatient (which, much to Mulder's amusement, was actually a trait she inherited from her mother. Scully was notoriously grumpy and impatient if she hadn't gotten enough sleep and Mulder would suddenly call to ask her to conduct an autopsy at three in the morning)

Hope audibly grumbled and cuddled closer to her father, resting her head on his shoulder.

"If you say please, I'll check to see if they are ready... deal?" Mulder bargained, because that was all he could do in her presence. She'd had him wrapped around her little finger from the moment Scully told him she was pregnant again.

"Okay" Hope smiled, sweetly.

"Well, they smell really good. That's a good sign, right?"

Scully nodded, approving of Mulder's skilful, FBI trained deduction.

"I'm sorry, Mommy"

"It's OK, baby. I think you're just a little bit tired, though" Scully soothed, stroking Hope's eyebrow softly and brushing the overgrown curly bangs out of her sleepy eyes.

Scully grabbed a bun from the tray, buttered it and handed it to Hope for her to hold open for the franks that Mulder was taking off the grate over the bonfire.

"Ready?" Mulder asked, before he carefully slipped the warm dog inside the bun and used his hands to cover Hope's pressing it closed, so she didn't lose it on the way to get ketchup or mustard... or both squirted on it.

"Mmm, hotdogs are yummy!" Hope tried to say, while munching on her hotdog (with mustard, no ketchup).

"Show me your buns, Scully!"

"MULDER!" Scully warned, and then laughed from deep inside her belly.

"Hey... you're laughing! Which means you thought it was kinda funny and charming too!" Mulder winked, and set his wife up with a hotdog of her own.

"It was a little bit funny, but also very inappropriate!"

Mulder created a hotdog for himself, and sat back down next to Scully and Hope. They were all silent for awhile, just enjoying the quiet out there in rural Virginia (with the nearest house being a quarter of a mile away) and there lunch.

"Mommy? Have you ever seen a bigfoot?"

"No, baby. But I did see Big Blue once... I think" Scully raised an eyebrow, skeptically and Mulder grinned at her in response.

"What's a Big Blue?" Hope asked, curious about whatever this new creature might be and if they could hunt for it too.

"Well, I think that's a question you should really ask Daddy" Scully tipped her head towards Mulder so he could their daughter all about that time they went to take pictures of Big Blue and came back without Queequeg, and took another bite of her very tasty hotdog.

Hope looked up at her father, waiting to be dazzled by another story from her parents past. She didn't really understand what the FBI was, and all of the stories she had heard growing up made it sound like her Mommy and Daddy were superheroes that hunted for secrets and scary but interesting monsters.

"Remember I read you the story of, Nessie... the Lochness Monster?" Mulder asked, remembering the night he read from a so called "history" book about mysterious creatures and monsters that lived all over the globe and how delighted a three year old Hope got at hearing the fantastical, spooky stories.

"Yeah, Nessie is a dinosaur that lives in the water really far away from here but I wish she didn't. I want to be friends with her, Daddy"

"That's what Big Blue is... but, well she lives here! Isn't that awesome?"

"Can we go visit her? I could be friends with Big Blue!" Hope asked, intrigued and very excited by the prospect of a Nessie-like creature being nearby.

"I think that will be up to Mommy"

"Can we go visit Big Blue? She's my bestest friend in the whole world, Mommy!"

"When you're a little bit older, we can go for your birthday... if you really want to?" Scully offered, genuinely because she could see that Hope wasn't going to drop the idea of visiting anytime soon and thought it was probably time to go mourn her lost dog after all of these years.

"Yes! I want s'mores now, please!"

"I'll make us all some delicious s'mores and you can show Mommy pictures from our hunt" Mulder said, handing his smartphone to Hope so he could skewer some pillowed sized marshmallows on a metal kebob rod and held it over the raging fire to melt and bubble.

He had covertly taken pictures with his phone, throughout the whole Sasquatch hunting adventure, to make it more real for Hope and would print them out later, and help frame them for her bedroom wall.

"This is the very first bigfoot print that I saw... isn't it cool?" Hope beamed up at Scully, still frantically swiping at the screen to show more of the pictures.

"It's very realistic, that's for sure"

THE END.


End file.
